Just Another Year at Hogwarts
by AngelicEmpress
Summary: When a mysterious young witch shows up things begin to go awry. Now Snape is acting considerably more moody, and our trio are once again meddling in things that ought not to be meddled in- to quote Hagrid. (there are several pairings) CHP 3 UP!
1. Default Chapter

This is my first fanfiction in over a year. I really hope I haven't lost my touch, and please do forgive me if I have. At this very moment I am considering putting this whole story down in one page so that it is not split up into chapters. No, that's not a very good idea is it? Well, you have been warned. Today is 03-17-04, 10:25PM. I really hope I don't fuck this up... here it goes...  
  
Just Another Year at Hogwarts  
  
Chapter 1:  
  
It was again fall and the wind was crip and cool as it blew through the trees down to the ground, carrying with it several newly fallen leaves. The sun shone abovehead, and all the grounds were bustling with activity. It was the weekend and everyone was restless, bursting to get out for the day. After all, beautiful days like today would, not long from now, only come with a great load of snow and the bitter cold.  
  
Yes, it was a wonderful day. Wonderful to all but one, Hermione Granger, who was practically tearing her hair out at this very moment. She had tons of homework, and she had barely gotten started on it, all with the sneaking around she Ron and Harry had been doing that previous night.  
  
Ron and Harry of course, had decided they had all weekend to get their work done and therefore decided to go off outdoors with most everyone else since the trip to hogsmead had been canceled. Of course they weren't left out alone, there were teachers and other staff stationed all around for their protection. Most people thought it was pointless but Dumbledore had insisted upon it.  
  
Hermione pushed a stray piece of hair from her eyes as she flipped through her books. She chewed her lip as she stared down at the paper.  
  
"Dammit all. I can't do this now." she pronounced as she slammed her books shut, and moved her hand off of her parchment, it immediately rolled back up on it's own. For once, she realized, she was the one who found the odd happenings at their school a cause for the inability to do much else but ponder on it.  
  
She stood and paced the room as she thought back to that dusk merely two days ago.  
  
~*~  
  
She, Harry and Ron had been out on the Quidditch field after the first match of the new school year. Almost everyone had headed back inside, or elsewhere for the time being. The game had been between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Strangely enough Hufflepuff had won the game, and everyone seemed in pretty good spirits all that day.  
  
They were just wandering off of the stands. Harry and Ron still totally immersed in their discussion of the game. Hermione was doing her best to ignore them, in the past 5 years she had learned she hadn't much of a liking for the most popular sport in the wizarding world.  
  
Just as Ron was beginning to get red in the face while explaining to Harry for the twentieth time, "But Harry, didn't you see what he did? It was completely unfair! Anyone could ha-"  
  
That's when it had happened. A round of loud and collective gasps was heard not twenty feet from where the stood. Being the curious creatures they were, they decided to rush over and inspect the scene.  
  
When they came, nothing that seemed too far out of the ordinary seemed to have happened.  
  
Ron pushed past a couple of people to get a better look at what they were all crowding around. "Blimey! It looks like she hit the ground pretty hard."  
  
"What do you supposed happened?" asked Hermione.  
  
"She looks pretty beat up, it could have been anything." came Neville who just happened to be among the crowd. "I bet she was attacked by a dark wizard!"  
  
"Maybe she had a run-in with some werewolf in the Forbidden Forrest!" came another voice whom they couldn't put a face to.  
  
A Hufflepuff girl spoke up then, "She just fell out of the sky. There was a bright flash of light in the air for a moment before she came plummeting down."  
  
"The question would be who she is and how she got here." Harry piped in.  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes at him, "Are you all dense? Can't you see she's hurt, whoever she is she needs help. Someone go get Madame Pomfrey. We can worry about who she is and how she got here later." Two students ran off towards the hospital wing together.  
  
Meanwhile she rolled up the sleeves of her robes and leaned over the fallen girl. The nameless girl on the ground really had been attacked by something. She was covered in cuts and scratches, and her skin was sickly pale. As Hermione carefully lifted a limp arm to see the part of her torso that was bleeding she noticed some kind of bite mark right on the spot between her neck and shoulder.  
  
Just as she was getting a closer look, Snape had crept up on the crowd of students, "What's going on here?" He had addressed them in his usual tone.  
  
Hermione and most everyone else jumped at the sudden, unexpected intrusion, and as most of the students began backing away she attempted to explain herself. "Well you see, we were jus-"  
  
Once Snape had seen the girl lying on the ground, the smirk playing at his lips from catching the trio at something disappeared and was replaced by a scowl and he all but pushed Hermione out of the way, interrupting her in the process.  
  
She looked back at Harry and Ron who looked just as confused at her and shrugged. She decided to speak up again, "She seems to have just fallen from the air professor, no one..." Hermione's voice trailed of as they watched him bend over the fallen girl. This was rather odd, he seemed overly concerned compared to his usual self.  
  
After a very tense moment or so, they had heard him swear under his breath before sweeping the young woman up from the ground. He turned directly at the three friends, Neville and the others had long since fled, "You will go up to Gryffindor tower now and stay there unless you would all fancy a weeks worth of detention."  
  
Ron opened his mouth to say something but both Harry and Hermione dragged him away before he could get anything out. They had managed to escape detention once, they didn't want Snape getting on them again.  
  
They glanced back long enough just to see Madame Pomfrey come in on the scene and stare in shock at the girl in Snapes arms.  
  
~*~  
  
Hermione sighed as she flopped back down into a chair in the library. It had been two days now and they hadn't seen or heard of the girl that they knew now lay in the hospital wing. It was all very strange, no one seemed to know anything about her sudden appearance and the students had all been put on a lockdown of sorts. No one could wander outside of the castle without a teacher accompanying them. Professor Snape seemed a hell of a lot more moody as of late, and Hermione couldn't name the creature that had caused the painful looking bitemark. Oh if only I had had more time to look at it just a little more closely... Harry and Ron are going to hear it when they get back, they should be here helping me figure this out.  
  
She got up and paced the area a little more before turning angrily and slamming her hands down on the table, "Bloody Hell!" she cursed rather loudly.  
  
Pinche promptly glared at her, but Hermione paid her no mind as she gathered her things and headed out. There was a book she took out in her dormitory that she needed to look through. It might tell her exactly what bit that girl. Anyway there was nothing else she could really do besides that but sit idle and wait for those two lumber heads to get back.  
  
^*^*^*^  
  
Was it an OK start? Did you like it? I know it was short but it's about 1am now and I have classes tomorrow. Please let me know, your opinions mean the world to me! I know this is just slightly AU-ish. Well, like I said, let me know what you think.  
  
Love,  
  
AngelicEmpress 


	2. Chapter 2

Ok, so this took me a while to get finished. Why, you may ask? Well, frankly I had it written out the day after I posted chapter one but I LOST it before I had a chance to type it up! Then out of spite I refused to work on it for a few days. *grins sheepishly* Well, anyway, I remembered I wasn't doing this for me, but for you all, so I got back to work and re- wrote it.  
  
Hope you all enjoy. (The first version was better though... *grumbles*)  
  
OH YEA! I FORGOT THE DISCLAIMER LAST TIME!! Well I own nothing except the story plot and my character and my creatures (will be mentioned in this chapter) which all came from my rather deranged mind. (This goes for the rest of the fic so you won't have to see it again.)  
  
Just Another Year at Hogwarts  
  
Chapter 2:  
  
A few hours later, Hermione let out a weary sigh. She had been pouring over her book, 'Magical Cures' looking for a bite that resembled the one she had seen on the young witch. Hermione knew she must have been a witch, she had, after all, apparated from somewhere. 'Not an easy task mind you, what with all the spells around the school. It must've drained the last of her energy on the spot. That's why she apparated in mid-air and simply collapsed afterwards.' Hermione thought. 'She's obviously a learned witch, meaning she is at least a few years older than I and either she's very powerful, or she's dabbled in the DA.' Hermione stopped there, she didn't want to continue down that track just yet.  
  
She flipped another page, already having looked through Annihilators to Shriekers and everything in between. The book was well over six thousand pages long. It contained loads of information on all kinds of bites, hexes, illnesses, poisons, etc. Her eyes looked over a page with some distinctly gruesome looking bites. (They looked more like there were chunks of flesh ripped out, as if the victims were being eaten, to Hermione.) She was just about to pass a page depicting several kinds of vampire bites when one caught her attention. Hermione looked at a bit closer. The man's face was one of pure shock and pain, and he had four holes puncturing the area between his neck and shoulder. 'Just like that girl! This must be it.'  
  
She looked at the caption underneath it, and it was written in small, and rather neat letters;  
  
kiss of the day-vampire. See page 1131.  
  
She flipped the twelve pages before stopping at a fairly clean and yet old- looking page. 'Must not be referenced very often.' she thought looking to the title. It was in the same print as the caption, except much larger. It read:  
  
"Day Vampires  
  
This particular vampire is extremely rare, and any cases involving one must be taken VERY seriously. Only four cases have been reported in the last 200 years. There are no records of these beings before then. Not much is known about them except that the can walk both night and day, hence their name, 'Day Vampires' The most famous of the four cases was in 1830, when they were able to capture one of them for testing. Much was learned from this one specimen. It was found that their saliva is what carries the 'disease'. If a victim of a day vampire is not sucked dry (unto death) the victim will themselves be turned. As can plainly be deduced, these vampires rarely forget to finish off their prey. They also found that they only feed on the new and full moons. However, it is on the new moon that they come into what has come to be known as, 'blood-lust'. They kill anyone and anything that crosses their paths for the sheer pleasure of it. It was on a new moon that twenty people were killed and that the day- vampire, know only as Rousseur, was able to escape. The witches and wizards who had been working on him had, however, managed to create a potion that would probably cure this 'blood-lust'. Unfortunately, they were never able to test it..."  
  
The page went on a while longer before she read that they had instructions on how to make the potion from left-over notes on the following page. Hermione's eyes lit, and she turned eagerly to page 1132. She looked down, and face-faulted. Page 1132 was missing, someone had ripped it out!  
  
Meanwhile at the Hospital Wing:  
  
Said witch was placed in a separate room from the students, so as not to cause an up-roar. Madam Pomfrey was not happy about this at all. Letting some random witch into the school, one so mangled and with a vampire bite no less! She had to hand it to Dumbledore, he had really gone mad this time. She was even more surprised though to find out that it had been none other than Professor Snape who had insisted upon keeping her here until she back on her feet!  
  
Madam Pomfrey looked down at her. Her arm upper left arm was bandaged as was her torso and the base of her neck where that hideous bite-mark had been. What could be seen of the girls skin was mostly covered in large, slowly healing, bruises and she still looked deathly pale. Her beautiful, mahogany brown hair hung limply off one edge of her temporary bed. Madam Pomfrey sucked her teeth at her own heartlessness. The girl did look in terrible state and she felt awful for ever thinking of turning her away. After all she had seen many a strange thing in her days working under their current headmaster.  
  
Her mind wandered back to the day the girl had been rushed in.  
  
~*~  
  
Just as Madam Pomfrey was finished cleaning up her patient, Dumbledore walked in. 'Good, it's about time...' she thought before noticing Professors McGonagall and Snape following close behind.  
  
"Madam Pomfrey, I expect you know what is afflicting her?" Dumbledore spoke in his usual calm tone.  
  
Madam Pomfrey looked at him, almost making a face as though she was debating wether or not to tell him, "Well," she began, "for starters it looks like she was escaping someone. Dark Magic involved I'm sure." She said this frowning. "She won't be waking any time soon I expect, and..." words almost failed her as she felt downright ridiculous saying it.  
  
"Well? Come now we haven't got all day." said Professor McGonagall. Something was clearly on her mind and she seemed to have other business to attend to.  
  
"Yes, do tell us." came Snapes cold voice. He was clearly angry.  
  
Madam Pomfrey half frowned before returning her eyes to Dumbledore. "She's been bitten, by a day-vampire." There, she had said it, now all she waited for was to be called a complete mental case who obviously could no longer handle her job.  
  
Both McGonagall and Snape looked positively shell-shocked.  
  
Snape actually gaped for a moment before snapping his mouth shut, and immediately turning it into a sneer of sorts. "But that cannot be. Those are extremely rare; the last case was reported over 150 years ago. You can't possibly-"  
  
But Dumbledore cut him off, "No Severus, she is right. It is what I expected."  
  
Now it was Madam Pomfrey to be taken aback, she had imagined he would think along the same lines as Snape. Everyone had gone quiet.  
  
"There was a potion," Dumbledore broke the silence once more, "Severus... I do believe you should know the one I'm speaking of... I would like you to prepare some," he paused at the look on Snape's face, "that is, if it is alright with you. I understand that you may not want to try it on her..." He said, eyes twinkling as he looked into the fathomless black of Snape's eyes.  
  
Madam Pomfrey and McGonagall shared a look, but said nothing in respect to the short exchange.  
  
McGonagall turned to Dumbledore, "Albus, if you no longer need me for anything I must be going."  
  
"Actually I need you to put together some new rules to ensure that our students are safe..."  
  
~*~  
  
The conversation trailed off in Pomfrey's mind. That had been two days ago she mused as she looked out the window as dusk was falling over the crisp autumn afternoon. 'Professor Snape must have had some kind of history with her...' And she wondered when, and if, there would ever be a relatively normal day here at Hogwarts. 'Not a chance.' She smiled.  
  
Ron and Harry came into the Gryffindor common room looking happy if not a little tired. They were talking about Neville's incident that morning near the lake. He had been trying to impress this 5th year Ravenclaw girl before, well one could guess.  
  
They had barely taken two steps towards on of the couches when Hermione rounded on them. They looked startled for a moment by the look in her eyes and Ron was about to say something when she cut him off completely.  
  
"We need to talk," she began looking around the room before continuing in a whisper, "Just not in here."  
  
The common room was now filling with Gyffindors as curfew had been changed to an earlier time. Harry and Ron exchanged looks as she turned to get her books.  
  
They took that as their cue and ran up to get the invisibility cloak. Stuffing it under Harry's robes, they came back down to find Hermione ready and waiting for them with a few hefty books in the crook of her arm.. They still had an hour before curfew so no one questioned their leaving. They weren't going to take any chances though, this being their sixth year, they had learned that one could never be too cautious. Without another word they left through the portrait hole.  
  
In Moaning Myrtle's bathroom (they had officially made it their places to discuss private matters such as this because it was the only place they had away from prying ears.) They all sat around, both Harry and Ron looking as dazed as thought Hermione had throttled them with one of the massive books.  
  
"Are you sure 'Mione?" asked Harry. He was still a bit skeptical about the whole thing.  
  
She simply rolled her eyes, "Of course I am! I wouldn't be wasting valuable study time if I wasn't."  
  
"So you mean to tell us, that not only is there quite possibly a deadly vampire-"Ron was again cut off.  
  
"Day-vampire." She corrected.  
  
"Right," he continued, "nearby, but that there's one right here in the HOSPITAL WARD!?" Ron's voice had risen so much towards the end of his phrase that he had begun to sound hysterical.  
  
"Yes, now keep it down!" Hermione hissed at him, "Someone might hear us if you keep shouting like that!"  
  
"So what do you suppose is going on?" Asked Harry, now deep in thought.  
  
"Well we could always try to get something out of one of the teachers." Suggested Ron.  
  
"Yes, and we also have to find that potion, it may come in handy." Said Hermione determinedly.  
  
OK, that's all for now. I hope this is longer than the last. It is a total of about 5 pages. Let me know what you think. Reviews do brighten me day!  
  
Thanks to everyone who did last time:  
  
WizzFizz-21  
  
RubyFox Jenn 


	3. Chapter 3

Just Another Year at Hogwarts  
  
Chapter 3:  
  
That night they all headed back to the common room with calm. They had finally cooked up a plan that sounded half-decent. Each of them had a separate part, so as not to look suspicious, and it would also help them cover move ground in a smaller space of time.  
  
Harry was in charge of asking the questions, though he had to do it in a round-about way. If he could get any of the teachers to slip some information, he would have accomplished his goal. Much to his dismay, Ron got library duty. He had to find anything he could on the day vampire. Hermione was left to the sneaking. All were doing things that wouldn't be expected of them.  
  
"Wait a minute." Ron whispered suddenly causing everyone to pause.  
  
"What is it Ron?" Hermione asked just as quietly.  
  
"Since we're already out of bed anyway, why don't we stop by the infirmary?" There was an excited glint to his eyes. Ron had come to love running around getting involved in everyone else's business.  
  
"You know what, you're right, but we have to be quick, curfew is in about forty minutes, if we're not in Gryffindor Tower by then they'll send someone looking for us." Harry responded.  
  
"Oh fine, hold on, just let me check if anyone's coming." Hermione looked around the corners and down the halls quickly as they extracted the cloak from it's hiding place. She nodded her consent seeing as it was safe and Harry quickly swept it over the three of them. After checking to see that no stray feet or anything like that were sticking out, they changed direction.  
  
Ten minutes later they were there, after getting passed the locked door they scanned the rows of beds. All of them were empty. They all looked at each other as if to say, 'Now what?'  
  
It dawned on Hermione suddenly that there were private rooms reserved for certain cases. She motioned them towards a door at the end of the room and the boys followed closely behind.  
  
They paused at the door and were about to test if it would open without complaint before they heard a faint voice then a muffled thump.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Madam Pomfrey had done one last quick check on the young woman before heading to her office. It was the only patient she had staying overnight. She was glad to see that most of the bruises had finally vanished and her wounds were beginning to heal nicely. 'Thank goodness it's still a week before the new moon.'  
  
Her footsteps echoed softly throughout the room as she made her way out. Little did she know that bright, jade-green eyes were staring at her retreating form from the bed she had just checked. When the coast was clear the girl sat upright in the bed, bending her head forward, her reddish brown hair falling to her face. 'I made it, I'm alive...' She quickly stood up from the bed, she was safe for now, but as soon as they found out she was feeling better she would be shipped off to either St. Mungo's or Azkaban for sure. She pulled on her regular clothes and searched quickly for her wand but it was nowhere to be found. "Damn.." she whispered to herself.  
  
She looked around again, and seeing nothing she tried something she knew could possibly give her away. "Accio wand." Her hissed order came out a soft whisper. There was a thump heard some five feet away from her, the sound of wood hitting wood. 'An invisible cabinet... should've known.' She walked up to the unseen cabinet, touched her hand to it and it soon came into view.  
  
She was about to reach over and open it when the slight sound of shuffling reached her ears. She froze. Someone was right outside the door. She listened closely, the movement had stopped.  
  
Holding her breath she opened the cabinet slowly and her wand shot right into the palm of her hand. She held it firmly as she reached for the door, whoever was on the other side would be stupefied before they could blink.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Harry's heart raced as he saw the handle of the door begin to turn. Hermione and Ron held their breaths as they waited for whomever it was to emerge. It was so quiet that if they attempted to move, they would be heard, so they stood there, not three feet from the door hoping beyond hope that they wouldn't be found out.  
  
The door then swung open with the tiniest of creaks. Harry's eyes widened in fear as the figure emerged. It was the witch they had seen a few days ago!  
  
Hermione could barely hold back a gasp as she took in the womans features. She had the same striking eyes as Harry and she seemed so much like, 'His mother!' She thought in shock, 'but no...' There was something different about the woman that was looking around the room. She was very pale, and had a distinctly aristocratic look about her, something that Harry's mother, though quite beautiful, did not posses.  
  
Ron and Hermione looked between each other and Harry, noticing he seemed in some kind of trance as he watched the woman move about slowly, checking the room. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Harry didn't know what to think.  
  
Ron too was at a loss, 'She seems just so much like... but she's too young, and besides his mo-' Nope, Ron wasn't going there.  
  
That was when Ron elbowed him to bring him back to sanity. Unfortunately this brought with it an undesired affect as Harry took in a sharp breath. They stopped. The woman was looking dead at them.  
  
"Who's there?" a voice called out, but it wasn't the woman with green eyes. A light shown a few feet away.  
  
The woman looked back towards it, then looked back at the spot where Harry, Ron and Hermione stood frozen. After a seconds time, she swept back into the room she had come from.  
  
The teenaged trio decided this was their chance to get the hell out of there and they ran for the door. They made it outside just as Madam Pomfrey looked in where they had been.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
The trio didn't stop running until they had made it back to Gryffindor tower with five minutes to spare. As they all made their ways to bed, each had a mindful of thoughts to ponder on for the night.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ok... sorry for the short chapter but I couldn't wait to update. More mystery ensues! As always, please review!  
  
Love,  
  
AngelicEmpress 


End file.
